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RETRO 022CD
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Originally released in 2008. Ry-Co Jazz was a band of musical ambassadors that spent nearly all of its 18 years on tour or in residence outside its native Congo. Led by singers Freddy N'Kounkou and Casino Mbilia and guitarist Jerry Malekani, Ry-Co Jazz introduced contemporary Congolese music to audiences in West Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and South America, influencing countless local musicians and generating new musical hybrids. Ry-Co Jazz was especially popular in the French Antilles, and it's clear from the records the band made in Martinique and Guadeloupe in the 1970s how many of the islands' sounds the band absorbed and how much the Congolese musicians contributed to the zouk style that flowered a few years later. This second Ry-Co compilation from RetroAfric covers 1963 to 1977, and follows Rumba 'Round Africa (RETRO 010CD).
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CD
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RETRO 010CD
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Originally released in 1996. Ry-Co Jazz did just about as much as any band to popularize Congolese rumba internationally in the 1960s. Formed in 1959 by the pioneering guitarist, composer, and music businessman Henri Bowané, the band held its first rehearsal on a steamer heading up the Congo River and spent the next 18 years on the road (or on the river) beyond their home country. Bowané soon split off to start other bands and Ry-Co Jazz picked up new members of various nationalities along the way. The core of the band, though, was always three Congolese men: singers Freddy N'Kounkou and Casino Mbilia and guitarist Jerry Malekani. The Congolese saxophonist Jean-Serge Essous, a founding member of both OK Jazz and Les Bantous de la Capitale, joined Ry-Co Jazz in 1964, by which time the band was touring Europe. In 1967 it made the first of several long visits to the Caribbean. Everywhere it went it not only disseminated Congolese rumba but also absorbed sounds such as West African highlife, French rock 'n' roll, and Caribbean calypso and beguine. This compilation (the first of two from RetroAfric preceding Bon Voyage!! (RETRO 022CD)) covers 1961 to 1969.
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